Young gymnast is aiming to reach the top
We continue our coverage of Franklin Junior Sports Awards winners. Briar Hubbard chats to talented gymnast Madison PlummerFonotoe.
Madison Plummer-Fonotoe dreams of competing at the Olympics one day.
The 13-year-old gymnast has set the right foundations to do so, after being named the Under 13 Sportswoman of the Year at the Franklin Junior Sports Awards earlier this year.
Madison competed at the Gymsports National Championships in Invercargill in October.
She placed second overall, and was first in beam, floor and bars, and second in vault.
Throughout 2016 she placed first overall at seven competitions.
She said it felt good being awarded the title off the back of such a successful year - and it was all thanks to her coach Nicole Palmer, of Franklin Gymsports.
‘‘She took me to my competitions and has been teaching me to get better and better.
‘‘She is always pushing me to my fullest and encouraging me to do my best and gives me lots of support.’’
Madison said she was thrilled to have been able to compete at nationals for the first time last year, and it has given her a taste of what she wants to be doing as she gets older.
‘‘Nationals is really hard and you really have to be on top of your game.
‘‘There were lots of people watching and you’d think that everybody clapping would put you off, but I blocked it all out and it was cool that everyone was supporting me.
’’It was really fun and a good experience...I tried my hardest and that’s all I could do.’’
She said floor and bars were her favourite apparatus.
However, it is floor where she can have fun and be herself.
‘‘You can’t really go wrong that easily with floor because you get to express yourself in your dance movement.’’
While she hopes she will be wearing the silver fern one day, her next competition is the Mid Island Gymsports competition in June.
She will then compete at the Christchurch School of Gymnastics Classic competition in July.
‘‘My goal is just to try my hardest and see how far I can go and push myself,’’ she said.